I don’t think I’ll ever buy a red car again, at least not until I’m a multimillionaire with a six-car garage. My first car was a red Honda Civic, which I loved dearly and can still see and smell if I close my eyes. Our current car is a red Opel Astra, which is very similar to my Civic. We bought it eight years ago when we moved to Spain. Apparently the problem with red cars is that their paint fades much more quickly than other colored cars. Presumably it has to do with reflecting the longest wavelength (red), which has the least amount of energy, and absorbing all the high energy sunlight. For the past few years, our car has been more orange than red.(more…)